Rock Bottom

By: Erin Brockovich (with C.J. Lyons)
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Publication Date: March 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59315-625-1
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: May 2011

Erin Brockovich, noted environmental activist, and C.J. Lyons, award-winning suspense novelist, have teamed up to produce this truly fascinating book concerning environmental issues.

This debut thriller is the first book in a series featuring A.J. Palladino, who has become a radio personality referred to as, The People's Champion.

Angela Joy Palladino is an outcast who left her hometown of Scotia, West Virginia behind when she was just seventeen-years-old. Pregnant at the time, A.J. worked very hard to establish herself as an environmental activist, and was successful in becoming a radio personality. When she receives a call one day that ends in tragedy when the caller shoots himself ‘live’ on the air, A.J. is forced to leave her program, and decides to head home to Scotia with her son, and stay with her parents for a while to think things through and start over.

Soon, A.J. is offered a job at a lawyer’s office, working for an attorney who is a champion for environmental causes. This incredible lawyer, Zacharia Hardy, is fighting against Masterson Mining’s new project, which is mountaintop removal.

Being a single mother of a special needs child, A.J needs a job and agrees to work with Hardy. But when she arrives in Scotia, she finds that Hardy has died suddenly and A.J. ends up teaming with Hardy’s daughter, Elizabeth, to solve the crime.

Inundated with threats, the bodies begin to pile up and A.J. begins to realize that there are many secrets in her mountain top home that have been buried deep…some in her own backyard.

This is a good read, and if you’ve ever heard of the author - and who hasn’t - it is obviously written using stories from her own career and life. Brockovitch’s world is intriguing, and her co-writer is first class, which makes this story very readable.

Quill Says: A good beginning by a well-known personality. Fans will look forward to the next chapter in the life of A.J. Palladino.